Winter Sun!

Finally some sun!  The perfect day for outdoor exploration!

Sunny Skies.

Getting the campsite ready.

The campsite.

Farmer Don, Rosie and their snow angel.

And the chickens get dinner.

January 20 Newsletter - Buying Club Open

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

Yes, ordering for our buying club is now open.  The ordering window will end Thursday (1/22) at 5 am and deliveries will be made this weekend. 

We have added some new products to the buying club.  From our farm, we have added lard and scrapple.  These are both old fashioned homestead products which helps assure no part of the pig goes to waste.  Scrapple is a traditional Pennsylvania German treat made by combining pork trimmings with cornmeal (mush, for those of us raised in a Pennsylvania Dutch family), spices and a bit of flour.  Scrapple is traditionally sliced thin and fried.  The finished cooked product should have a crisp outer crust.  Serve it topped with ketchup and as a side to dippy eggs!  I must say, I think my Father had scrapple for breakfast every morning.  Lard is rendered fat from our sustainably raised pigs.  I realize we are a bit late for holiday baking, but I used our lard for pies over the holidays and I must admit my Mother was correct.  Lard makes the flakiest, most tender pie crusts!  Lard can be used as you would any fat for cooking and is a healthier, more sustainable substitute for margarine or crisco.  Here is a Huffington Post article from last year discussing cooking with lard  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/28/cooking-with-lard-baking_n_5212804.html.

We are also now offering some cuts of grass fed beef on our buying club.  This beef is raised on pasture by our friends and neighbors at Stillwater Fields Farm.  This beef is lean with a superior taste and flavor.  Nothing compares to a grass fed beef burger or a slow roasted chuck roast!  To learn more about Scott and Tali and their farm, please visit their website (www.stillwaterfieldsfarm.com).

While we are talking about buying club products.  We still have poultry available, including pasture raised broiler chickens, stew hens and eggs.  Our apple orchard pork has been very popular, but cuts are still available.  Farmer Don is working with Farmer Dan at Landisdale Farm to secure some greens for next week's buying club. 

On farm, we are still moving at a bit slower pace, as we continue our winter re-coup.  We are spending time visiting with friends, reading and discussing our plans for the 2015 growing season.  We have also spent some time reflecting.  It is hard for us to believe, 2015 will be our 8th season of growing on our current farm.  We have learned so much, but there will always be much, much more to learn.  Our farm will forever be evolving, as we refine our production methods and learn to grow and live in this microclimate we call our farm, our home.

Has everyone noticed how the days are getting longer?  Yesterday, it was still partially light after 5 pm!  The lengthening of the days gets us energized and eager to get growing!  And it won't be long before we are starting seeds for transplant and prepping our fields for the early plantings of peas, onions and potatoes.  Peas, is there anything better than the first peas of the season?

It has been a few newsletters since I have reminded everyone of our online presence.  We have an active facebook page and we post regularly to our blog (http://www.dancinghenfarmcsa.blogspot.com/)  and post recipes to our pinterest site (http://www.pinterest.com/dancinghencsa). 

Thanks again for everyone's support.  For supporting us by ordering from our buying club and from signing up for our CSA. 

Until next week.....

January News and Buying Club open

Greetings and Happy New Year from Dancing Hen Farm.

Winter on the farm is a time for reflection, planning and rejuvenating.  Life slows a bit, and our main farm chores involve keeping farm animals warm and watered.  Water to our greenhouses and barn are shut off in the winter, to avoid frozen pipes.  This means we do the 10 gallon challenge several times during the day.  Those of you who have visited our farm know that our house sits down hill from the barn.  At least twice a day, we haul 5 gallon buckets of warm water from the house to the barn to assure the chickens have water to drink.  Hauling these buckets of water uphill over ice and snow is a definite workout and a challenge!

The seed catalogs have arrived!  Those of you who are closer to Don's and my age may remember the excitement the Sears Wish Book brought each year.  I can remember spending hours paging through  this catalog!  Well, seed catalogs are the farm version of the Sears Wish Book.  We page through them until they are dog eared!  We make lists of what we dream of growing, narrow those lists down to what we will grow and finally come up with a list of seeds we need to order. 

Speaking of seed orders.  We are always looking for feedback from our farm members and friends.  If anyone has suggestions on items they would like to see us grow more or less of, please drop us and email.

Our buying club is open again this week.  Orders need to be placed on line by Thursday (1/15) morning at 5 am.  We continue to offer storage crops and new this week, are limited amounts of kale and brussel sprouts from our friends at Landisdale Farm.  We have a good supply of eggs, chicken and pork available as well.  One change to the buying club order sheet.  All meat (chicken and pork) will show a total price of .01.  Once we know the exact weight of your selected cuts, we will update the price to reflect the accurate total price.

With a chill in the air and a slower pace on farm, Don and I spend lots of time in the kitchen creating comfort food.  At least once a week we slow roast a chicken.  We stretch this one chicken into 3 meals.  Meal one is, of course, chicken dinner, complete with mashed potatoes and sauted kale or frozen green beans.  Next we use any leftover meat for lunch time sandwiches, either cold or warm, as pulled chicken.  And finally we cook down the carcass to make broth for soup.  Farmer Don's favorite soup is very simple (broth, cheese tortellini and greens). 

I have given this recipe before, but another farm favorite is sausage, kale and potatoes.  These three ingredients really complement each other and this is a real "go to" meal for us.  We tend to use our loose sausage in the recipe.  Here is a link to the actual recipe (https://thegardencsa.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/kale-with-sausage-and-garlic-roasted-potatoes/ ).  However this is a really easy dish to make without the recipe.  Simply roasted potatoes and garlic in a hot (400 - 425) oven until slightly browned and cooked through.  Meanwhile brown the sausage in a dutch oven.  When the sausage is cooked through, add a bit of broth to the pan with the kale.  Put a lid on the pan and allow the kale to steam.  Stir the potatoes into the kale and sausage and enjoy!  If you have any of this dish leftover, it is fabulous stirred into scrambled eggs. 

A quick word on emails.  Some of you will be receiving multiple copies of this newsletter (and some future newsletters).  I apologize for this.  This is occurring because you are both a csa member and a buying club member. 

We are still taking memberships for our 2015 CSA.  Thanks to everyone who has already signed up!!!  If you have questions about our CSA (or our buying club), please email us at the farm.

Stay warm!

  

The hanging of the wreath and some late season greenhouse work.

The wreath makes its way to the barn.  

The finished product, 2014.  Note the addition of garlic this year.

Farmer Tommy helps Farmer Don plant some late season lettuce.

Buying Club for December 19 - 20 and Farm News

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

Our buying club is now open for this weekend's deliveries.  As always, ordering opened at 5 am today, Tuesday (12/16) morning and closes Thursday morning (12/18) at 5 am.  Look for pork products, chicken, storage vegetables and kale.

Yes, kale!!! This warmer weather has melted the snow and given us the opportunity to harvest under the row covers here in our lower field.  I was able to harvest kale last night for dinner and it was beautiful and oh so delicious!  Just remember quantities are limited, so please order early.

On farm, last weekend, we finally got our Christmas tree and barn wreath up.  Lots of thanks go out to Jason and Tommy for their help with the wreath.  Tommy drew the design and Jason created the wreath.  There is even garlic on the wreath this year!  I will try and post some pictures on facebook and the blog.  Farmers Jason and Tommy also helped out in the greenhouse with some late season planting and bed preparation.  Thanks guys!!!

We finally tried this year's pork chops for dinner last night and we agree with our customers.  They were delicious!  Farmer Don declared them "the best cut from this year's pork"!  I baked them in the oven on a bed of apples with just a bit of brown sugar and butter.  Colcannon made with fresh harvested kale and a simple spinach salad completed the meal.  We still have a tiny, tiny bit of spinach under row cover as well, so the spinach was also freshly harvested. 

Earlier in the week, Farmer Don made sweet potato tarts.  I guess they were more like tartlets, as he made them the size of large cookies.  He uses a recipe out of the Vedge cookbook for the filling and then uses a butter based recipe from Cook's Illustrated for the crust.  He made them really early in the morning and boy was it nice to awake to a house filled with the aroma of baked goods.  I had two for breakfast!  There is filling left over, so maybe we will have a sweet treat tonight?

Other than cooking, we are busy on farm planning for next year.  As with every year, last year had many successes and also some "opportunities", as Farmer Don likes to say.  This was our first season as a full choice CSA and for next season, we will continue to allow all members to choose the items they receive in their box each week.  For the upcoming season we will be trying to make not only more variety of produce available, but also more quantities, so fewer members experience "sold out" items.  We learned a lot this year about which items were really popular and which not so.  We are taking a hard look at our harvest and planting lists from last year to help determine planting levels for next year.  We do like customer input, so please if you feel so inclined, send us an email and let us know what veggies you would like to see more or less of.

Speaking of the CSA.  Our early bird discount ends on December 31st.  You will need to register on the computer and submit your payment to us by this date to receive your $30 discount.  We also offer a returning member discount and this discount does not expire.  A big thank you to everyone who has already signed up for the 2015 season.  Your funds allow us to order seed, potting mix and other supplies needed months before your boxes of vegetables are ready for delivery. 

This Saturday is the final Forks Farm Market of the year.  Farmers Don and Phil will be behind the table selling eggs, kale and some storage crops.  Why not take a break from the hustle of the season and spend a bit of time at Forks Farm?  You can pick up food for the holidays and some last minute gifts.  At least for now, the weather doesn't look too bad. 

Speaking of weather, the local weatherman just reported it has been 9 days since we have had a sunny day!  Today we are to have rain, so no vitamin D to be had today!  But, never fear, the winter solstice is this Sunday, December 21.  Winter solstice marks the shortest day (longest night) of the year, after this day, the days start getting longer.  Gradually longer......   But, we will take any extra minute of daylight we can get! 

Speaking of daylight.  The sun (what sun?), is not up and I need to walk the dogs and check on the chickens. 

Happy, happy holidays from the farm!!!!

News and Buying Club Open

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

Our buying club is again open for deliveries this weekend.  Ordering opened this morning at 6 and closes Thursday (12/11) at 5 am.  We have plenty of pork, chicken and eggs on the list and a limited amount of storage vegetables.  We continue to get good feedback on our pork.  The bacon is very popular and we are almost sold out of ham hocks!  If you have questions about our buying club, please contact us at the farm. 

On farm, we are already in a holding pattern until spring.  Farmer Don continues to do a bit of planting in our greenhouses.  These crops will overwinter under plastic and then start growing and be ready for harvest early spring.  Spring seems a long way away today as the freezing rain in coating the farm with a sheen of ice!  But, come March we should have beautiful greens to harvest.  We do have some harvestable kale under plastic in our lower field, but the weather is not cooperating for us to get any harvest in for buying club orders.  We will be at Forks Farm Market next weekend, 12/20, and hopefully we will get a bit of harvest in for that market. 

Speaking of Forks Farm Market.  Fork's Holiday Market will be on Saturday, December 20 from 10 am to 1 pm.  This is another festive market to attend.  Why not stop in and pick up some last minute locally produced gifts or foods for the holidays?  Farmer Don and Farmer Phil are again scheduled to be at market, so be sure to stop by and say hello if you come to market. 

We were busy in the kitchen this weekend.  We finally cooked down our turkey carcass from Thanksgiving.  And what beautiful broth it produced!  I told Farmer Don I thought it was some of the best broth we have ever made.  Thick and rich!  I ended up with about 4 quarts.  2 of which went into the freezer and 2 were used in a wonderful turkey noodle soup.  On Sunday we cooked a pork roast and wow was it tasty.  No special way of cooking it, a simple herb rub and a slow roast in the oven. 

Thanks again to all of you, our farm community, for allowing us to share our harvest with you.  A special thank you to everyone who has signed up for our 2015 CSA.  Please remember to take advantage of our early bird discount, we need to receive payment by December 31.

Until next week, be safe, be well and enjoy some local foods!

Turkey Broth

One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving!  Turning the turkey carcass into beautiful broth.